Here’s some good news. Thousands of contractors were encouraged, often by their accountants, to use a tax avoidance scheme which was, at the time, perfectly legal. HMRC then decided that it shouldn’t have been legal, and sent out life-changing or life-ruining retrospective tax demands. Many divorces, forced house sales and a few suicides later, it looks like they’ve been made to soften their line. Yes, I know they’re only human and have targets to meet. But not all those on the other side are tax-dodging shysters. Most of those still get away with it.
“HMRC scraps plans to tax pensions after death”
A couple of other Statement Highlights (in my world, anyway). A welcome ‘nothing happened’ on the treatment of pensions on death. They were never going to be liable to IHT (too complicated with trusts and trust law) but there was talk of making them income-taxable on the recipients at whatever age you die.
